Car magazine ocis

[rshaw125]

Has anyone else noticed how long the ocis are on the long term tests car magazines do?
I was reading Road and Track and the new Mini they were testing had it's oil changed at 13,000 miles then again 18,000 miles later! As required by the car's computer. I have seen many others where the ocis were 9-10,000 miles with no mention of the use of synthetic.It really puts the old 3 months or 3,000 miles into history.

 

[Whimsey]

Would you buy THAT car used

? Now a days if I didn't buy a new car then the "used" car HAS to have ALL the maintenance records for me to see. Especially European cars and other cars with the oil change interval light/gauge. Sorry but I don't even like 8,000+ miles on synthetic's without used oil analysis and doing so on a conventional oil is a fast path to a rebuilt engine. Of course after the warranty expires

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Whimsey

 

[mikep]

Yea, let them do that with a Jetta/Passat/A4 with the 1.8T motor and see how long it takes before they have a sump full of sludge!

 

[rich mds]

Yeah lots of european makes do this. I know Porsche and Mercedes uses Mobil 1. But BMW / Mini uses Syntec. I wonder what US made 5w30 Syntec will do to an engine at 10-18K OCI's over time.

I tell BMW owners I know to at least use change more often or use Mobil 1 in place of BMW oil.

 

[Ugly3]

We will all be draged kicking and screaming into the age of longer OCIs.

 

[Matt89]

quote:

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We will all be draged kicking and screaming into the age of longer OCIs.

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Amen. I knew I was officially 'mental' when I rented a beautiful Mercury Sable (I know, I know I have low standards) and I remember feeling a tinge of sorrow when I went under the hood to check the oil...despite the fact that it was nice and clean, I recall thinking how terrible it was that it was filled with 5w20 conventional.

I still have some Mobil 1 left for my cars, but for the future I'm thinking hard about longer OCIs with conventional oils - the "don't worry be happy" approach. I think it will make ZERO difference in the long run, except save me some bucks for my next used (and hopefully quasi-maintained) vehicle.

I still don't know anyone who's worn out a car. Maybe I will be the first (bet it takes AWHILE)...